Facebook: No smear here on Google

Facebook on Thursday rejected claims it is waging a "smear campaign" against Google — even as the social giant continued to raise privacy alarms about one of Google's newest tools.

Facebook's defense follows news earlier in the day that it secretly hired Burson-Marsteller to shop around to reporters a series of privacy problems posed by Google's Social Circle — a service that incorporates users' social data from Facebook and Twitter into their searches.

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While a Facebook spokesman confirmed to POLITICO the company did hire Burson, a top D.C. firm, the source stressed: "No 'smear' campaign was authorized or intended" against Google or its new social effort.

However, the Facebook spokesman added: "Instead, we wanted third parties to verify that people did not approve of the collection and use of information from their accounts on Facebook and other services for inclusion in Google Social Circles — just as Facebook did not approve of use or collection for this purpose.

"We engaged Burson-Marsteller to focus attention on this issue, using publicly available information that could be independently verified by any media organization or analyst. The issues are serious and we should have presented them in a serious and transparent way," the spokesman continued.

Facebook's behind-the-scenes efforts first came to light when Chris Soghoian, a top privacy expert and former official at the FTC, published emails he received from Burson. It later was revealed that newspapers — including POLITICO — were also pitched the story that Google's Social Circle not only threatened consumer privacy but also ran afoul of the company's recent settlement with the FTC over Google Buzz.

An investigation by POLITICO, however, determined the new service did not violate the spirit of the agreement — and could not have because the proposed FTC settlement has not been finalized.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 1:42 p.m. on May 12, 2011.